Media: Stoltenberg invites Zelensky to attend NATO summit in Vilnius

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said he had invited President Volodymyr Zelensky to attend a NATO summit in Vilnius in July.

“I firmly believe that this will be a strong sign of our solidarity, the support that allies have for Ukraine, and I hope that Zelensky will be able to attend,” Stoltenberg said in a March 1 interview with Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT. “Of course, this will depend on the situation in Ukraine, which is still in the midst of a war."

On Feb. 22, Petro Beshta, the Ukrainian ambassador to Lithuania, said Zelensky planned to attend the NATO summit in Vilnius.

According to Beshta, Ukrainian officials hope attendees at the summit will agree "very clearly that, as soon as the war is over, Ukraine will become a member of NATO."

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Feb. 21 that Ukraine, the European Union, and NATO were joining forces to increase the production of weapons and ammunition for the needs of the Ukrainian army and to replenish the allies' stocks.

Zelensky has spent most of his time in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, but he recently made diplomatic trips to Washington D.C., London, Paris, and Brussels.

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